More Beauprez/Christie Cognitive Dissonance

After embattled New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie'sappearances in Denver last Wednesday, wherein he refused to back off from his previous contention that Colorado's "quality of life" stinks in the wake of marijuana legalization, Christie headed up to Aspen for a panel with other Republican governors at the Aspen Institute. While in Aspen, Christie has some fascinating things to say about the GOP's efforts to reach out to traditionally disaffected voters–women, minorities, young people. The Philadelphia Inquirer'sMaddie Hannareports:

Gov. Christie presented himself as both “pro-life” and a tolerant listener during a panel discussion with other Republican governors Thursday night, arguing that Republicans don’t need to avoid social issues to appeal to a broader range of voters.

The party hasn’t lost elections because of a focus on social issues, but because of its “tone and tenor,” Christie said at the Aspen Institute in Colorado. “I think we’re getting pounded because of the way we present ourselves.” [Pols emphasis]

Voters want people “who are authentic and believe what they say is true, but also are willing to be tolerant and listen to others’ points of view,” Christie said…

Christie, the chair of the Republican Governor's Association, praised [Bob] Beauprez and called him "the best chance for change and the best chance for a more positive Colorado."

Credit for the nickname "Both Ways Bob" is frequently given to Democrats, but the true origin of that nickname was Beauprez's 2006 gubernatorial primary opponent Marc Holtzman. Beauprez earned that nickname in the GOP primary over his tepid-at-best opposition to 2005's Referendum C "TABOR timeout" measure, and then kept earning it as he flip-flopped repeatedly on a wide variety of state issues he had at one time supported or opposed–the Referendum A "water grab," Jon Caldara's ill-considered Amendment 38, and Social Security privatization.

Since re-entering electoral politics this year, Beauprez has already joined U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner in flip-flopping on the Personhood abortion ban–as well as jilting backer Mitt Romney on the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. Beauprez, who once strongly endorsed the mandate as a conservative solution for health care reform, has both abandoned the idea of a nationwide mandate (which Romney supported before Barack Obama), and even a state-level mandate like Romneycare in Massachusetts.

As Democrats size up their case against Beauprez for the voters this year, the two principal message tracks are Beauprez's turn to rank extremism since 2006–the "civil war" and birther pandering being easy examples–and the longstanding "Both Ways Bob" theme of Beauprez being willing to change his stand on anything in order curry political favor. What Christie is basically saying is that the former doesn't matter as long as voters trust you.

To which we can only reply, "Both Ways Bob" isn't the man for that job.

Indeed. There isn't a shred of evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent to murder. If that were true, death penalty happy Texas would have the lowest murder rate on the planet.

Prosecutors say it's necessary as a bargaining chip. Tell that to the loved ones of Aurora theater mass murder victims still waiting for a trial to happen. It's only because defense has a duty to do whatever it can, exhausting all possibilities, to save a client from death that the trial has been delayed for such a ridiculously long time.

PS people are increasingly being exonerated by DNA evidence from crimes they pleaded guilty to on the advice of their defenders out of fear of harsh sentences, including the death penalty, even though they were innocent. Not all bargains serve justice.

That said, he is just plain wrong. For more than a decade, the Republican Party here in Colorado and nationally has had far more than an image problem supposedly based on how they present their candidates. The problem goes far deeper than presentation. The problem is fundamental positions on issues.

For example,a woman's right to make her own decisions about her health. It was only a mere five decades ago when women finally began to emerge as in control of their lives beyond voting. There is no quesiton that before that time, politically and culturally women were in many ways second class citizens with fewer opportunities than men. That all changed with civil rights movement in the 1960's within which I include what was known then as the Womens Liberation Movement. Many women see the Republican Party's attitude toward abortion and healthcare as a throw back to what existed before the 60's. No one questions the Republicans sincerity about their stands on thes issues. The problem is most people disagree with them on the substance.

Mr. Beauprez represents that kind of Republican and it is why he will loose in the end.

If only they went back to the '60's in their attitude toward women. The GOP used to support equal rights for women. (Hell, even Warren Harding supported the 19th Amendment.) In fact, the GOP endorsed the ERA up until 1980 when St. Ronnie pulled the party's support.

Prescott Bush, Sr. (The Shrub's grandpa) lost re-election to the U.S. Senate from CT in the early '60's for his involvement with, and support for, Planned Parenthood! He was defeated by an anti-contraceptive Irish Catholic Democrat! (Hobby Lobby, eat your heart out!)

As long as they think it's just the tone there's no chance of their share of the votes of women or minorities going anywhere but down.

There's no tone that will make a pro-choice woman vote for candidates who support every restriction on access to abortion and birth control they can think of including fertilized eggs with full rights, vaginal probes, waiting periods, being treated like idiots who don't know what abortion means without sitting through a presentation, closing their health clinics. There's no tone that makes opposition to equal pay sound like a good thing. There's no tone that makes their completely discredited, failed voodoo (Bush senior's description) trickle down economics sound like something that's suddenly going to start working. No tone will return the majority to opposing gay marriage. No tone will get young people excited about imposing religious view on others. It's not the tone, stupid.

But I don't mind at all that they think so. No matter how they do this election demographics are going to crush them in the future as long as they think putting lipstick on their pig policies is the key to winning over women, the young and minorities.

Christie is considerably more outspoken than bob ways bob. At the moment, I think he is the R's best hope for 2016. However, best hope doesn't mean much hope since Tea Party will do its best to destroy him.

More "Quality of Life" fare. Good thing they don't have "headshops on every corner" in Camden. From Vice:

Earlier this month, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stood in a parking lot in Camden—one of America’s poorest and most dangerous cities—and said that it was time for the city to “move beyond its troubled past and… make its new history.”

That day, the Governor announced a deal to build a nuclear power plant parts factory on the Camden waterfront that would bring at least 235 jobs to the city. The month prior, Christie announced another deal to build a Philadelphia 76ers practice facility in Camden that would bring about 50 new jobs to the city.

The cost for Camden’s new history: $342 million in tax breaks, or about $1.2 million of taxpayer money for each guaranteed new job.

As New Jersey’s economy struggles to recover from its Great Recession lows, bumbling along at number 13 on the list of states with the highest unemployment, Christie has trumpeted massive tax breaks as a way to turn the economy around. His new pet project is Camden, a city where nearly 40 percent of residents are living in poverty. But many Jersey residents aren’t so sure Christie’s strategy will work. They say Christie’s plan might only minimally help Camden, and could empty out the state’s coffers in the process.